Controversy Over Plans for Changes in US Parks (cellphone towers etc)

[struggle4progress]

By Julie Cart, Times Staff Writer
Published: August 26 2005 21:43 | Last updated: August 26 2005 21:43

A series of proposed revisions of National Park policy has created a furor among present and former park officials who believe the changes would weaken protections of natural resources and wildlife while allowing an increase in commercial activity, snowmobiles and off-road vehicles. <snip>

The potential changes would allow cellphone towers and low-flying tour planes and would liberalize rules that prohibited mining, according to Bill Wade, former superintendent at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

Larry Whalon, chief of resource management at Mojave National Preserve, said the changes would take away managers’ ability to use laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act to oppose new developments in parks. <snip>

Members of the group said they were particularly concerned about policy changes that would allow snowmobiles to travel over any paved road in any national park in the winter; elevate certain activities already occurring in some parks, such as grazing and mining, to “park purposes” — which would ensure their continuation; and change the acceptable level of air quality from “natural background” to air that has been altered by human presence. <snip>

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7967a6ca-1670-11da-8081-00000e2511c8.html


<edit:> existing thread in LBN http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1728895

[Oerdin]

1. Republicans have been push for this since they took over Congress

They started charging people to use national forests and national parks dispite the fact that tax dollars were supposed to be used to support the parks. Then they say the parks need to "pay their own way" so they allow more logging and grazing and finally they lease sections of parkland to private companies which develop sky lifts, exclusive rights to tour groups, and other such crap. I've even heard they bastards were proposing builing a high rise hotel in the middle of Yosemite Valley because some corporation thought they could make money.

What's the point of having nature parks unless you keep them natural?